Again, NBA clears lawyer stripped of SAN rank

For a second time, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has cleared its member, Mr Kunle Ogunba, whose rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) rank was recently withdrawn by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).

The LPPC had on January 11 disrobed the lawyer based on a petition by Honeywell Group, alleging professional misconduct against the lawyer.

However, NBA under its former President, Augustine Alegeh (SAN) earlier cleared Ogunba of the allegations.

In an August 5, 2016 letter signed by its then General Secretary, Mazi Afam Osigwe in response to the petition said it would not refer him to its Disciplinary Committee.

“We regret to inform you that a careful reading of the petition failed to disclose any alleged infraction of the Rules of Professional Conduct 2007 in respect of which Mr. Kunle Ogunba (SAN) could be called upon to offer an explanation.

“It is a principle of law that companies are separate legal entities capable of suing and being sued. Placing this principle side by side your allegation of abuse of court process, we are satisfied the cases referred to as well as the court processes attached by your good-selves failed to show the existence of a case involving same parties in respect of same facts and seeking same reliefs,” NBA said.

But the NBA, under the current executive, led by Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), however, referred Honeywell Group’s petition to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee.

In its verdict contained in a letter dated February 20, 2018 and signed by its General Secretary.